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TO THE 

FREE AND INDEPENDENT PEOPLE 



OF 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



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/ 1^ 



ADDRESS, &G, 



MELLOW CITIZENS, 

A LARGE and respectable Convention of Citi- 
zens, from all parts of the Commonwealth, after ascer- 
taining that our late worthy Governor CHRISTOPHER 
GORE dechned being considered a Candidate for the 
Chair ; UNANIMOUSLY resolved to recommend to 
your suffrages the ensuing year, . 

CALEB STRONG, 

von GOFERJ^OB, 

WILLIAM PHILLIPS, 

FOR LIEUTEJ^^J\*T GOVERJ^OR. 

Upon the characters of these candidates, and their 
elaims for office, it would be superfluous to enlarge. 
Governor STRONG for several years sustained the of- 
fice of Chief Magistrate with dignity, ability, modera-, 
tion and firmness. The office was respected, and the ' 
State was prosperous under his administration. Mr. 
PHILLIPS is a gentleman extensively known and re- 
spected in the Commonwealth, for his exemplary moral 
character, his deportment in public and private life ; for 
the steadiness of his principles, and the munificence of 
his charity. 

During the current political year, the people of this 
Commonwealth have witnessed a state of afiairs, entirely 
new in their annals, and equally alai^ming and unexpected. 

The Governor, forgetful of the cUimof the whole peo- 
ple to Executive Patronage, has condescended to devote 
himself not merely to gratify, but inflame the passions of 
the Fartt/ which supported his election, comprising ^^ 
small and perhaps a doubtful majority of legal voters. 



■V 4 

He be,^an his administration the past year by denoiinc-. 
ing, m effect, our ancient and faithful Metropolis, as an 
assemblage of Malecontents prepared to resist by open 
violence the Laws of their Country. He has also given 
currency to a reproach upon the whole State, by assert- 
ing the existence of a combination within its bosom, 
hostile to. its Liberties, and sufficiently formidable to re- 
quire public animadversion, which, under the dominion 
of ^^fareign influence,^'' is engaged in plots of a treason- 
able complexion. By tlie sanction of such high author- 
ity, at an alarming juncture, when united talents and 
jnutual confidence have become necesstiry to provide for 
the common defence, against impending War ; jealous- 
ies are sown between To^^'Tl and Country — The Com-, 
monwealth is degraded in the estimiition of our Sis- 
ter States, and encouragement is afforded to a foreign 
nation, in the event of a War, of finding numerous ad- 
herents among our own Citizens. 

For this grievous accusation, unsupported by docuT 
nicnts or evidence of any kind, the citizens implicated 
have afforded no pretence to his Excellency, except by 
their protestations agiiinst the ruinous tendency of the 
J\^on- Importation System^ which is now declared by 
many of its former advocates, and by the most respecta- 
ble members of the majority in Congress, to be utterly 
ineffectual, except for the purposes of fraud and per- 
jury, and the consummation of our national ruin. 

To confirm the power of this paii:y, the Governor has 
co-operated with the Legislature in a plan of pretended 
reformation, which tlireatens the freedom of speech and 
even of opinion, and is at variance with the first elements 
of a free constitution. 

It is the professed basis of this plan, that a difference 
in political opinion from the present administration dis- 
qualijies a man for the service of the state in any depart- 
menty civil or military, elevated or humble. 

In consequence of this iicw theory, laws have been 
jRVodeiled with an express view to create new offices, and 
to change the tenure of old ones, held by Judges, Sheriffs, 
Qlerks pf Judicial Courts and other subordinate officers, 
:pfierely to make room by their removal for successors of 
difjbrent political principles., 



In pursuance of this system, the new offices, with a 
very few exctptions, have been engrossed by individuals 
of one politiail party, generally nominated by secret as- 
semblies of men without responsibiiity. Old and appro- 
ved servants of the Public, whose locks have whitened 
in the duties of the cabinet and the field ; officers m the 
revolutionary army, aged members of Congress, and other 
faithful and able men, have been driven from their places, 
without any imputation but the crime of opinion, and doom- 
ed to wear out the remnant of their duys in unmerited 
poverty and distress. 

But this projected reformation will not be limited 
irysrely to the removal of officers, and to the increase of 
executive patronage — It is destined by its authors to per- 
vade every department, civil, judicial and military — 
Already it has sapped the foundation of our most venera- 
ble institutions. The Supreme Judicial Court is threat- 
ened in terms of open menace. The jurisdiction of that 
Court in constitutional questions is denied, and its de- 
cisions in many instances are doubted and censured. It 
is proposed to divide the Commonwealth into Districts, 
so as to secure in the Senate the permanent ascendancy 
of the party, without respect to any change which the 
will of the people may effect in the other departments of 
gov^-nment. By this proposed division, a perfect con- 
tempt is manifested for immemorial usage, geographical 
boundaries, local convenience, and " the proportion of 
the public taxes paid by the respective Districts.'* 
Counties are divide*! into sections in the most irregular 
and inconvenient forms, so that further divisions may 
be facilitated in order to detach from each other old 
friends and associates, who have been in the habit of 
acting together for the common good — Towns have 
been carved into parts upon the application of minor por- 
tions of the inhabitants, by lines arbitrary and capricious, 
separating from each other families and intimate connec- 
tions, calculated merely to break down the influence of 
the respectable and steady part of the population. The 
Treasury has been opened for the pay ot the Represent- 
atives, so that the number, already too unwieldy for the 
despatch of public business, may be increased to aii 



(Enormous bulk, rendering impracticable all fair delibem- 
tion, and compelling the many to be led blindfold by 
the few. This measure will operate as a wanton dissi- 
pation of public money, to prevent the due execution of 
public business. In short, the maxim is established, 
* 'overturn and overturn," until every vestige of our an- 
cient habits and institutions shall be effaced, and until 
the substantial and independent men of all parties shall 
be driven from a participation in the government, and 
those who, by talents, property, sound principles, or 
honest hearts, are best qualified to influence the course 
of affairs, shall be supplanted by tlie bold, aspiring, and 
unprincipled part of the community, in every parish, 
town, and county. To justify these enormous strides 
towards the worst species of despotism, nothing can be 
alledged agiunst the minority, but their opposition to the 
system of commercial restrictions imposed by our na- 
tional rulers ; and the fruits of which are already seen, 
in the ruin of Commerce, the approach of War, Standing 
Armies, the whole system of Internal Taxes, including 
a LAND TAX ajida STAMP ACT, an empty Trea- 
sury, and future prospects more dismal than present 
embarrassments. It would be tedious in an address of 
this description to attempt an elaborate review pf the 
measures which have changed the joy of our nation into 
mourning ; but it will not be impertinent to remmd you 
of the principles avowed by the friends of Washing- 
ton, in relation to the obnoxious Orders and Decrees 
of the belligerent powers, that yoy may perceive dis- 
tmctly wherein they are culpable : — 

These principles are — 

First — That in the present state of Europe and of 
America, neither tlie honor or interest of this nation re- 
quired us to embark in the War, but that it was our 
policy to husband our resources, to glean whatever might 
be gathered from the remnant of our commerce, and to 
prepare for a more favorable occasion of vindicating our 
rights. 

Secondly — That resistance to one or more of the bel- 
ligerents, by means of commercial restrictioTis, would be 



ineffectual— That France would be gratified^ Britain 
irritiited, and that this irritation would probably produce 
further aggressions, and finally open War. 

This species of resistance, however, is that which 
Government has hitherto eluded ; and this has been 
opposed by argument and remonstrances on our part. 
It is on this ground alone, that the Governor and his 
coadjutors can attempt to justify their violence and in- 
novations. 

Now it has so happened, that actual experience has 
brought home to the understanding of every man in the 
country a conviction of the truth of this last propo- 
sition — and of consequence the Metropolis and the Fed- 
eral Party have been denounced^ for stating what the 
whole people now realizes to be true, and for no other cause. 

That this system of restrictions has drained the coun- 
try of vi^ealth, and rendered us less prepared for War, is 
clear from the most humiliating evidence from the best 
authority. The Secretary at War (doubtless with the 
approbation of the President) proclaims to the world, 
that so far from havmg made provision for an immense 
army, he cannot procure blankets to cover the nakedness 
of the Savages. The Secretary of the Treasury also is 
compelled to fill up the measure of our degradation, by 
exhibiting the emptiness of the Treasury, and by pro- 
posing taxes which he formerly considered the most 
odious aad oppressive, and which nothing but dire ne- 
cessity could have induced him to recommend. 

To all this evidence may be added, the observations 
made by the principal leaders of the ruling party in 
Congress ; condemning the wretched policy of their 
own friends — condemning themselves, aknowledging 
the inefficacy of their system, and censuring the admin- 
istration in terms of bitterness never equalled by those 
of their adversaries. 

Thus, Fellow-Citizens, you have a plain view of the 
only justification which the modern Reformers can al- 
ledge for shaking old Massachusetts to the base — for dis- 
turbing the institutions of your ancestors, and for engross- 
ing all power in tJieir hands. It is, let it be repeated^ 
tlic Federalists that have warned them of consequences 



which ai'e now realized by dreadful cxptrience, and have 
condemned a policy of which its authors now repent, 
though they have not the magnanimity to renounce it. 
It is these men, and not the Federalists, who have exhib- 
ited to G. Britain, and to the world, the humiliating 
view of the state of our country. 

It is now for you, for the honest and moderate men 
of dl parties, to decide whether you will uphold this 
reign of Terror and Proscription— Look now at 
the conduct of thzfriench of JVashiugton, in Congi-ess-~- 
You see them with silent sorrow acciuiesce and assist in 
preparation for a War, which they have done all in 
their power to prevent — A war which they believe to 
be unnecessary and ruinous, but in which, if it happens, 
they are ready to engage as citizens of a Common 
Country — But you nmst also perceive that while an 
enormous army is voted, and all naval assistance is de- 
nied, that the protection or vindication of our commer* 
cial rights, is a stale and shallow pretence. — No, Fellow- 
Citizens, the object is to keep alive the existing irrita- 
tions against Britain, and to break down the commer^ 
cial strength and spirit of Massachusetts, by continued 
restrictions. The men in power in this State, play into 
their hands, with a view merely to keep their places, and 
persecute their political opponents. It will be difficult 
for them to point out any advantage resulting to the Coun- 
try since they have had power. Let your plundered 
Treasury attest to the fidelity of the first man they had 
the power to elect, and let the frauds and forgeries com- 
mitted in the East and the West by their greatest and 
most confidential men be an earnest of your iu'iure 
hopes, when all power shall be in their hands. 

Moderate men, friends to your Countn,^ of all parties, 

unite The real differences of sentiment between you, 

are not great — If you arc doomed to a state of war, you 
must fight in tlie same ranks— If peace can be preserved, 
all your wisdom will be in requisition to heal the wounds 
inflicted by a mistaken pohcy— But if you will not unite, 
your Commerce perishes, your Agriculture decays, your 
Commonwealth sinks, your Liberties are no more. 

Boston, Feb. 21, 1812. 



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LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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